


December Fifths

by PaleandBroodingsGirl



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Christmas song phrases, Dobby Lives, EWE, F/M, Fred Lives, Harmony & Co's Advent Collection 2020, Harmony - Freeform, rated T for suggestive dialogue - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-05
Updated: 2020-12-05
Packaged: 2021-03-10 06:48:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,255
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27890041
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PaleandBroodingsGirl/pseuds/PaleandBroodingsGirl
Summary: December fifth, 1997 was the start of something new for Harry and Hermione, but that wasn't the only year when the couple had something to celebrate.This is an adaptation of a previous work of mine, "Happy Tears", which was much shorter, among other differences, and was part of a Lyric Llama challenge hosted, also, by the Harmony & Co Facebook group.
Relationships: Harry Potter - Relationship, Hermione Granger - Relationship
Comments: 5
Kudos: 20
Collections: Harmony Advent Collection 2020





	December Fifths

**Author's Note:**

> a bit of fluff, a bit of laughs (hopefully! this is my first foray into trying to be funny!), and a bit of romance, all for the lovely Harmony shippers at Christmastime!

~December Fifths~

Ever since 1997, the fifth day of December had held significance for Hermione Granger and Harry Potter. On that particular date (which should have seen them enjoying the Christmas Season in Hogwarts Castle for their final year of education), the two best friends had been in hiding, evading evil foes while attempting to save the world and keep themselves alive. Besides being half-frozen (in spite of the best of warming charms Hermione could conjure onto the planes of the tent that made up their only shelter), they were half-starved. To add insult to injury, they were down one best friend; Ron Weasley had abandoned them over a month prior, and in the aftermath, Hermione had responded by frequent bouts of crying while Harry had withdrawn.  
They were half-defeated by life as they knew it, but amidst all of the despair, discouragement, and depression, December fifth, 1997 became the start of something new between the two best friends. 

Covering a shivering Hermione with the blanket from his own cot (though she was already cocooned in her own plus Ron’s former blanket), Harry embraced her from behind, his legs spread in a ‘v’ on either side of Hermione’s. He winced at the cold hard ground beneath them, but wasn’t deterred in the slightest.  
“Thank you for the blanket, Harry,” she whispered, sniffling as she tried to stifle her tears, relishing in the comfy coziness of them snuggled close together like two birds of a feather.  
“Let it out, Hermione. Cry if you want to. I’m here,” he responded.  
“You’re here,” she agreed with a hum, closing her eyes, determined to not ruin this blissful moment with Harry with tears borne of dread and doubt.  
“He left us, and it hurts, I know,” Harry said quietly, “but we have each other, Hermione, and I will never abandon you. ”  
Hermione just blinked in wonderment. ‘When did Harry become so intuitive?’  
“Thank you, Harry. That…means more than you know.”  
Warm air pulsed past her left ear as Harry buried his face in her wild curls. She heard him inhale deeply and exhale slowly.  
‘Did he just smell my hair?’ she wondered. She hadn’t washed it in weeks, so there was no possibility of it exuding an enticing scent.  
Curiosity caused Hermione to turn her head to peek at Harry over her shoulder. Even in the pale moonlight, she could see Harry’s beautiful, mesmerizing, spring green eyes boring into hers. She had never seen such emotion in his eyes, and, suddenly, she felt much warmer all over.  
“Don’t get me wrong, Hermione: I’m angry with Ron for leaving, but him not being here is nothing compared to how I would feel if you left.”  
Harry’s face was so close and his stare was intense—too intense for Hermione’s tremulous emotions—so she turned her head to face forward but she leaned back into Harry’s body.  
“Me, too, Harry,” she confessed in whisper as she savored the feeling of Harry’s chest rises and falls moving in tandem with her own.  
“I’d be gutted if I didn’t have you by my side, Hermione,” he imparted.  
“I’m not going to abandon you, Harry. I swear.”  
Unexpectedly, a hand from around her middle lifted to hover over her chest and one finger tapped gently over her heart. “If you did, it would hurt me here, Hermione, very much.” Even through the layers of blankets, her skin seemed to tingle from his touch. After a moment that passed too quickly for Hermione, the wizard’s hand returned to where it had come from and his face burrowed into the tiny area of exposed skin on her neck.  
“And how would you feel, Hermione, if I weren’t by your side?”  
Hermione shivered at his hot breath ghosting across the sensitive skin on her neck, and she found that she wasn’t able to speak.  
“Would that hurt you here?” he asked as, once again, she felt the gentle pressure of a single finger above her heart.  
What was this? she wondered. What were his words, his touch, and his stare trying to tell her? Could he possibly reciprocate her feelings? Should she reveal her feelings for him? Her Gryffindor bravery hadn’t spurred her on to telling him thus far, and she wasn’t about to risk their friendship now—not when she felt like she had everything to lose.  
When Harry nuzzled her neck, his lips grazing her skin in the process, her Gryffindor courage quickly bubbled up from wherever it had been hiding and exploded; like it, truth burst forth, unable to be contained any longer. “If you weren’t by my side…my heart wouldn’t just hurt, Harry.” Inhaling deeply through her nervous trembling, she continued, “It would cease to beat. It would break, cave in, disintegrate, decay…”  
“That’s exactly how I’d feel, too, Hermione,” Harry replied. The earnestness in his tone was as plain to Hermione as the intensity of his stare had been, and her heart lurched. After a pause, Harry quietly added, “I’ll never break your heart— Or crush it. Or bruise it. Or take it for granted. Or betray it. Or—”  
A sob interrupted his soliloquy as Hermione’s eyes welled up with tears again. She turned head to catch his eye and murmured, “Sorry, Harry.”  
“Eh, are those happy tears?” Harry asked timidly as Hermione sniffed.  
With an emphatic nod and a smile, she replied, “Very happy tears.” With ardent conviction in her tone and plain as day on her face, she said, “I’ll never break you heart, either, Harry. I swear.”  
Harry grinned again, and his eyes seemed grow brighter.  
In the wake of the uncommon moments of seriousness and sentimentality (at least when not discussing dark objects and dangerous and evil beings intent on murdering them both) between the two, they sat still and silent for a long while, heedless of the weather and hard ground they sat upon. Both of their minds were whirring, trying to process the meaning of what had just been shared between the two of them. Laying her head on Harry’s shoulder, Hermione was trying hard not to infer too much into what Harry’s words and actions really meant, but she was confused; things cleared up quickly, though, when Harry placed a timid kiss to the nape of her neck.  
A thrill went through Hermione, and at a repeat kiss, her lips twisted involuntarily as butterflies fluttered their wings wildly in her stomach. She tilted her head in the direction opposite of Harry’s ministrations, and Harry continued, placing kisses up her neck until he reached her earlobe. The contact of every kiss forced a gasp from Hermione’s mouth; no one had ever kissed her in these spots before tonight.  
When she began to feel lightheaded, tingly, and warm throughout her body, she rotated in Harry’s embrace to fully face him. His strong arms didn’t falter in their hold; even as she began to stand, he followed, their bodies seeming to be magnetically pulled toward one another’s. Hermione let her blanket cocoon fall away; in Harry’s embrace, she had all the warmth she needed.  
When their eyes met, Hermione saw love shining from the depths of Harry’s exceptional eyes, and it made her heart soar from the cavern of her chest, where hope dwelled safely in secret, into the light of day, where true happiness shone like the sun for all to see.  
She immediately rose up on her toes to kiss him, and he kissed her back, innocently, as first kisses tend to be. Abruptly, he broke away quickly, saying, “You didn’t just say all of that because I said what I said, or because Ron left, or because of Vold—”  
“Harry Potter,” Hermione interrupted in a chastising tone, gripping his face in her hands and making their eyes meet. “I said it all because it’s true. I haven’t been crying over losing Ron. I’m scared to lose you.” Taking a quick breath, she smiled and said, “I love you, Harry, and I want to be by your side. Always.”  
Within the space of a heartbeat, Harry’s mouth was upon Hermione’s, and she gave as she got. They kissed as if sealing vows, in a way that spoke of so much more than friendship and promised forever. 

Since then, on every December fifth, Harry and Hermione have celebrated the start of their romantic relationship as if it were a major holiday. In fact, they gave it a proper name: Love Day. 

~~~

In 1998, while finishing their last year of education at Hogwarts, their home-away-from home, they celebrated among friends and friends who were like family, something the two of them had been sorely missing.  
“Happy Love Day, Harmony!” a chorus of Hogwarts students (plus Hagrid) yelled at the couple as they entered the Great Hall for breakfast on December 5, 1998. The couple, who had been discussing Hermione’s gift for Harry (a warm cloak, highly sought after by Quidditch professionals and imbued with the best charms and spells and potion applications that Hermione could perform herself or afford to have performed by the experts) but they good-naturedly thanked their well-wishers, despite hating the moniker for their relationship that someone had created and had, unfortunately, stuck.  
Sitting down, Hermione noticed that Harry was distracted and jumpy suddenly. ‘Well, it’s Saturday, a Quidditch day,’ she reasoned, dismissing his behavior with a shrug. She was in an animated discussion with Dean Thomas about how to incorporate Muggle Christmas traditions into the celebratory events of the Wizarding World when Harry gently wrapped his fingers around her jaw and pulled her gaze and attention to him (a daring act for any wizard to perform on even the most mild-mannered of witches, to be sure).  
“Harry, what are—”  
“Hermione, love, your present has arrived.”  
Hermione just gaped at Harry until he gestured toward the Head Table, where Hagrid was escorting two people from the chancel, the room beyond the Head Table. She shrieked upon recognizing the man and the woman, her dad and mum.  
She and Harry had gone to Australia after the war to find her parents, but the Wilkins (nee Grangers) had been indiscoverable. While Hermione hadn’t given up on locating them, she’d reached a dead end by the start of school, and had determined to put the search on hold to focus on her education; she figured that’s what her parents would advise her to do. However, Harry had, unbeknownst to Hermione, kept the search going, using his name and fame and fortune to pull whatever strings he could to locate the Grangers and reverse Hermione’s Obliviation spell.  
Giving Hermione her parents back was the most rewarding thing Harry had ever done, and that included ridding the world of one evil wizard. Hermione cried happy tears for hours after reuniting with her parents.  
“They are the best gift I’ve ever, ever received, Harry Potter,” she told him in the late hours on the fifth in the otherwise empty Gryffindor Common Room. The duo sat on a plush couch by the roaring fireplace, her thighs over his as she rested against the arm and Harry rested on the back of the couch, the two touching as much as was possible in this position. Their mutual fondness for being snuggled together hadn’t waned at all in the last year. “You made my wish come true, Harry. This was the best gift you could have given me on Love Day—or any day.”  
Harry’s lips twitched just slightly; he dared not say what lewd thoughts had come into his mind at her statement. Instead, he went the more respectable and sincere route. Running his hands through her thick mass of curls, he told her, “Just having you in my life is enough, Hermione. Besides, the happiness you bring me, nothing in the world can buy.”

~~~

Subsequent December fifths were spent with gifts, kissing, and quality time together. For Love Day 1999, for example, Harry gifted Hermione a trip to Hurghada, Egypt. There, the couple enjoyed the warm weather and sandy beaches, the salty sea air, and the romantic landscape; it was a completely opposite setting from their very first Love Day. It was also where, in a private cabana overlooking a beautiful sunset, Harry gave Hermione a beautiful diamond ring in a unique, custom, rose gold setting that was just her style.  
When they returned to the Wizarding World engaged, Rita Skeeter had a field day with the ‘Love Story of the Boy Who Lived and Hermione Granger’. Other (more respectable) writers were happy to announce the engagement of the iconic couple without malice. ‘Hermarry’, which, of course, is a combination of the names Hermione and Harry, came about from the numerous articles titled (or similarly titled), ‘Harry Potter to Marry Hermione Granger’. Some columnists took the word play to a whole other level with ‘Hermarriage’, as in ‘The Hermarriage date is yet to be announced’. One young writer even thought that ‘Harry-Marry-Mione-Mo’ was clever enough to make headlines (it didn’t, but the article title appeared in the society pages of an obscure Wizarding newspaper nonetheless). Some of the couple’s friends still preferred ‘Harmony’, but ‘Hermarry’ was embraced by the Wizarding World as a whole; even the Drs Granger took to using it.  
Both Hermione and Harry were just relieved that, for once, the attention was positive for them both (not including that of Rita Skeeter, whom neither of them cared about anyway).  
Engagements in the Magical World were traditionally short, and so, when Harry and Hermione decided not to marry for a year, it took the Wizarding population by surprise. For Harry, neither the long engagement nor deciding on the actual wedding date ruffled his feathers much. Truth be told, he was rather in a rush to marry his sweetheart, but what mattered most to him, as always, was giving Hermione anything and everything her heart desired, including time.  
When the official wedding date was announced, sentimental females everywhere applauded the choice; it seemed that they agreed with Hermione that there was no other option besides Love Day. 

~~~

The fact that Love Day was so close to Christmas was also a bonus for Hermione, who adored the Season. With the most important day of her life, December 5, 2000, occurring in the most wonderful time of any year, her heart had never been lighter. She was sure that if love were tangible, she would see it blanketing everything and everyone she saw on her wedding day.  
The wedding venue, the tiny Church of Godric’s Hollow, had been magically expanded, and to Hermione, it was a wonderland. The entire interior of the building was alight with floating candles (an homage to Hogwarts, of course) and Bluebell flames in tall glass vases marked the rows of pews and decorated the aisle. Fairy lights (not the electric Muggle kind, but actual light from faeries that Luna had procured as a gift for her closest friends) provided a beautiful backdrop behind the wedding arbor, which was crafted (magically, of course) from real evergreen boughs, blue winterberries, and berried eucalyptus.  
Hermione’s bouquet was a gift from Hermione’s mother, Rose.  
“The bouquet is the bride’s crowing jewel,” she’d said to Hermione when the two of them had designed the floral arrangements with a high-end Muggle florist in London. The greenery of the arbor was repeated in the bouquet, complimenting desirable English Roses, which were in the hues of blush pink, burgundy, and Christmas red. Hermione hadn’t been able to help herself, adding a few, tiny, cinnamon-scented pinecones in on the day of her nuptials. The opulent bouquet was wrapped in a beautiful, gold velvet ribbon, and against Hermione’s ivory vintage style gown, with its fitted bodice (which appeared to be sheer but really wasn’t) and lace overlay on the skirt and a lace tattoo back, looked simply elegant.  
Luna’s excellent intermagical-being skills proved invaluable when she convinced a dozen faeries to hover in the cascading bouquet throughout the ceremony and reception. Hermione wondered what Luna was promising the faeries for their cooperation, but decided it better to not ask—at least not until after the wedding was over. Luna had suggested that the faeries hover in Hermione’s hair and veil (also lacy and vintage) and in the delicate lace of her gown; Hermione had politely declined, sighting a possible breach of creature rights laws (to which Luna had simply nodded vaguely).  
For all that the wedding was the social event of the year in the Wizarding World, it was a small, intimate gathering of Harry and Hermione’s family, closest friends, and select former professors and Order members. The ceremony itself was performed by Minerva McGonagall. Filius Flitwick was in attendance as well; he charmed three violins and a ground bass to play Hermione’s favorite classical piece, Pachelbel’s Canon in D, during the Processional. The combination of the Charms Professor’s Magical flair and the Muggle musical masterpiece was true pageantry.  
However, the beauty of the Processional was lost upon Hermione, so overcome by the blessing that was having her father, Hugo, there to escort her down the aisle; and so overcome with love for the man who had made it happen—the man who was waiting for her at the aisle’s end.  
When Harry first saw Hermione at the beginning of the aisle, his first thought was that he’d never seen a woman so beautiful as Hermione at that moment. His second thought was how he very much wanted to rip her delicate dress right off. He’d quickly snapped out of that line of thinking, though, thankful that none of the guests were Legilimens. Later that evening, however, he would discover that Luna had happily announced (to nearly all of the guests at the reception) that, based on his carnal desires at the altar, the marriage most certainly would be consummated that night and that her faerie friends were very much looking forward to witnessing it.  
It wasn’t until Hermione was standing across from Harry under the wedding arbor that she lifted her eyes to meet his. Harry’s eyes seemed to glimmer amongst all of the green décor surrounding them and their spring green hue seemed deepened by his burgundy velvet tuxedo (which was completely normal wedding attire in the Wizarding World but had horrified Rose Granger when she’d laid eyes upon it).  
“Hi, babe,” Hermione mouthed when she locked eyes with Harry. She knew that Harry loved the nickname but was uncomfortable with it used in the company of others.  
“Hi, love,” he silently replied with pure joy evident on his face.  
After they both recited the traditional marriage vows, promising to love and be faithful to one another, forsaking all others, until death parts them, Harry began the more personal vows.  
“Hermione, I never really knew my parents, and I never really knew what love was, until you showed me. No one had ever shown me the kindnesses that you showed me. From you, I learned that loving someone means standing up for them in the face of ridicule. It means pushing them to be their best. It means supporting them, even if no one else does.” Harry took a deep inhale as if to brace himself for what was coming next. Slowly, while thinking of their fifth year and the Department of Mysteries and Sirius Black, he choked, “It means…following them into…whatever danger may befall you both.” Harry took a moment to compose himself before continuing. “You did all of these things for me, Hermione. You saved me, and loved me, and I couldn’t help but fall in love with you. I promise to show you all the love you’ve shown me for the rest of our lives. I feel like I don’t deserve you, but I’ll make sure that you know you’re loved every second of every day.” Harry finished by pulling Hermione’s hand to his lips and kissing it with something akin to reverence.  
Luna handed Hermione a handkerchief to wipe her eyes and blow her nose; Hermione had always been an emotional girl, and today, of all days, was no exception.  
“Harry, on this day three years ago, we vowed to never leave the other…to never break the other’s heart. It was never a difficult vow for me to keep, you see, because I love you. I have loved you since I was twelve—since you rescued me and befriended me.”  
The couple and their friends who knew the story of how Harry battled a Mountain Troll to rescue Hermione tittered quietly—even Minerva McGonagall.  
When the church was again silent, Hermione said in a tremulous voice, “I’ve learned from my parents that love is a choice that we must make every day. We can’t let our anger or disappointment rule our hearts,” she explained, thinking of the love and forgiveness her parents had extended to her since their Obliviation was reversed and they returned to their proper lives. “Every day, we must make a conscious decision to love. Today, my promise to you is that every day, for as long as I live, I will choose to love you, Harry Potter.”  
Hermione had to sniffle and wipe at her eyes before she could continue, and, though no one but Hermione and Minerva could tell, Harry’s eyes were especially wet.  
“I admire you immensely, Harry Potter, for all that you are and all that I know you will become—a world class professional seeker, a fabulous husband, and a devoted and loving father. I am so very grateful to have you in my life, Harry, first as my friend and now as my husband,” Hermione said, her pearly white teeth glinting in the largest smile Harry had ever seen on her face. On the spur of the moment, Hermione added, “Choosing to love you every day will be quite easy.”  
The congregants chuckled lightly, but Harry’s response was a cheeky smirk only Hermione and Minerva were privy to. In his next breath, Harry turned to the gathering of the people who knew and loved him best and, with a pompous air and wide smile, stated, “Well, folks, The Brightest Witch of the Age has vowed to choose me forever. Now, I truly am ‘The Chosen One’!”  
The congregation erupted into uproarious laughter, the Weasley twins standing up in appreciation of Harry’s joke. When Hermione recovered from her astonishment, she playfully smacked Harry’s arm, adoration and amusement written on her face.  
“Watch the cheek, Chosen One,” she teased.  
Harry leaned and murmured, “You know you love it, my feisty witch,” before he swooped in for a kiss. Hermione was taken by complete surprise by Harry’s premeditated dip-kiss (and by his previously unknown ability to do it—very successfully—while still snogging her senseless). Someone (probably one or both of the twins) wolf whistled, causing the other celebrants to join in with their own whistles and laugher and more applause. The bride and groom broke their kiss, joining in the merriment themselves. An alluring blush graced Hermione’s cheeks, and Harry’s eyes were alight with mirth, as they laughed together in an intimate embrace. The photographers’ Magical and Muggle cameras clicked wildly, capturing what would become the most iconic photo of the couple for the rest of their lives—the one that made the front of the Prophet the next morning and graced many pages of many publications whenever ‘Hermarry’ was written about in the Wizarding World; the one that was turned into a Special Edition Chocolate Frog Card featuring ‘The Two Saviors of the Wizarding World’; and the one that both husband and wife had framed and displayed in their places of work and in their home…for always.

~~~

After their wedding, Harry and Hermione still celebrated Love Day and their wedding anniversary on December fifths. The day—nay the entire season—was spent in lovey-dovey reminiscing and, frankly, lots of love making (or ‘celebratory shagging’ as Harry put it). Hermione was just enough of a romantic at heart that the anniversary of their first love-making was not to be forgotten, a fact which Harry took full advantage of.  
On December fifth, 2004, another cause for celebration occurred on the (already) very memorable Love day: Hermione found out that she was pregnant. The meaning of Love Day was escalated to a whole new, exciting level.  
Being pregnant, and at Christmas, was truly a new brand of Magic for Hermione. Her favorite time of year, a time that was already full of wonder and magic, love and sentimental significance, was that much more merry and bright that year as she grew new life inside of herself. Hermione belted out, “All I want for Christmas is you…Baby,” like never before, and she was happy like never before, too.  
Harry was thrilled at the notion of having a baby and was already buying he or she Christmas presents for his or her First Christmas (okay, okay, I’ll level with you: he was buying children’s toy racing brooms for his child’s First Christmas).  
Their first child, Lily Minerva, was born in August 2005. Her First Christmas was truly a sight to behold as she was loved and spoiled by so many and had parents who were eager to share the Christmas spirit with their first and only child. Hermione, however was not eager to put her infant daughter on any of the three brooms Harry had bought her (or on any brooms that the four month old had received from her uncles Ron, George, and Fred).  
While Lily was the light of their lives, the Potters planned to wait a year or two before adding a second child to their little family. Harry traveled frequently as Seeker for the Godric’s Hollow Hippogriffs, while Hermione worked as a Creature Rights Barrister, spending half of her working time in the home office to be available to Lily. Though they family employed a House Elf, Dobby (who had been injured while rescuing the Trio from Malfoy Manor but had bounced back in true Dobby fashion), to help the young parents with the childcare and housework, Harry and Hermione both were content to just enjoy and dote on their little girl and not rush to provide her with a sibling.  
Lily was three years old when Harry and Hermione decided to not prevent pregnancy any longer in hopes of having another baby whenever Hermione’s body saw fit to make it so. Almost three years later, their efforts had been unfruitful. In March of 2011, they had a choice to make: to ‘prevent’ or to ‘not prevent’ pregnancy that month. Over the years, friends and acquaintances had warned about March conception leading to December birthdays and how ‘unfair’ and ‘awful’ they are.  
“Well,” Hermione said with a sigh. “We prevented the past two Marches, but we’ve been trying for so long that I really don’t want to prevent if there’s a chance that this month could be the month. And, there’s nothing wrong with the month of December for a child’s birthday. It would just add more excitement and fun to the Season. I mean, what could be better than our baby’s arrival happening in our favorite time of year? Besides,” she added quietly with a sigh, “it probably won’t happen for us this month anyway.”  
Harry, of course, agreed with his witch, whom he still adored and cherished and to whom he gave everything she asked for.

~~~

On December fifth, 2011, Love Day began early for the Potters as the newest member of their family, made his debut. James Hugo was completely adored by his sister, now six-year-old Lily, who was in awe of the little tyke with a shocking amount of curly, raven locks. Baby James was in awe of his big sister, too, frequently staring at her wild black curls and trying to grab her glasses.  
Hermione had been right; she did love bringing a baby into the world at Christmastime, even if James’ birth on Love Day and her and Harry’s anniversary had been a slight disappointment. 

~~~~

On December fifth, 2012, aka Love Day, aka Harry and Hermione’s twelfth wedding anniversary, and aka James’ First Birthday, the adult faction of the Potter family realized that, sometimes, there can be too much of a good thing, and in their case that good thing was activities. The days of December were always full of activities and obligations—so full, in fact, that the family had to miss out on many because they were just so busy. The time of year was hectic and stressful. Fitting in a birthday party and a celebration for their anniversary plus Christmas parties with friends and with coworkers and their own family gatherings was difficult at best, and almost impossible when trying to arrange it around their eldest. Lily played in a Junior Quidditch League and was dedicated to ballet and children’s theatre (and she was a handful to boot). The Potters decided that no more major events in their lives would occur in December if they could help it (and they went to great lengths to ‘help it’).  
Harry’s career as a Pro Quidditch player would be coming to an end after the Quidditch World Cup in 2013, and he had decided to stay home with Lily and James. Hermione’s practice was booming, so much so that she had recently taken on a half-dozen new partners plus secretaries and interns (all of whom were passionate about Creature Rights, of course). Despite her successes and her love of her work, ever since James had been born, she really missed her days of being home—being ‘Mum’—more.  
So, together, as always, Harry and Hermione decided that beginning December fifth, 2013 (because what other day would make sense for the two of them?), Hermione would only work part time and most of that would be from her home office, and Harry would fill in as ‘Mum’ when she was working and would be a full-time dad, as well.  
After a year into this arrangement, the family had never been happier, and each individual seemed to be thriving, too. That year, the Christmas Season was much more enjoyable. After the fifth, on which they had thrown a huge birthday party to celebrate James, Harry and Hermione were even able to take a two-night get away to celebrate their own anniversaries. Their trip took them back to their very first Love Day, literally; they went camping in a forest. It was a surprise for Hermione, who had needed a lot of warming up to the idea.  
In the end, it was romantic and quite sensual. Harry tried his best to recreate as much of that night as he could for his very sentimental wife; however, this time, he got lucky. The trip was a complete success, and a well-deserved break for the dedicated and loving parents. Hermione loved the trip so much that she’d cried. Happy tears, of course.

~~~

The very first December fifth shared by Hermione and Harry Potter was the start of something beautiful that lasted year after year and was the foundation for a legacy of love that stood the test of time for generations to come. December fifths for the Potters would always have a special place in their hearts.  
Especially as the trip down memory lane spent in the tent on December fifth, 2014 had resulted in another beautiful Potter child.  
Harry and Hermione were surprised, of course, and thrilled, to be sure, but also very, very thankful that the baby would not be born in December. 

The End

**Author's Note:**

> Many, Many, Many event in this story (aside from canon events of course as they belong to the brilliant JKR--no copyright infringement intended!) are inspired by my own life experiences or those of people very close to me.  
> Thanks for reading, and i'd love to hear your thoughts! PS it's my birthday, so how about some love, y'all?! :)  
> Merry Christmas! Happy Advent! Season's Greetings! I hope you all are staying safe and healthy this season and always!  
> love, PBG


End file.
